Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright
"Gone-Away Lake" by Elizabeth Enright is a children's novel that unfolds during a single summer, following siblings Portia and Foster Blake as they embark on their first solo trip to visit their relatives in the countryside. The story introduces a sense of adventure as the children explore the woods behind their relatives' new home, leading them to a forgotten summer colony inhabited by two elderly siblings, Mrs. Cheever and Pindar Payton. The elderly characters share their stories about the colony's past and its transformation after the lake's disappearance, while showcasing their self-sufficiency in a rustic lifestyle.
As the summer progresses, Portia and Foster develop a friendship with the elders, who affectionately become known as Aunt Minnehaha and Uncle Pin. The children’s secretive visits to Gone-Away lead to events that strengthen their bond with the older generation. The narrative also incorporates themes of family, friendship, and intergenerational connections, culminating in a climax that involves community engagement and the reclamation of neglected spaces.
While "Gone-Away Lake" received positive reviews upon its release, it has often been overshadowed by Enright's earlier works. Critics have noted the novel's portrayal of white, middle-class characters, while others appreciate its rich language and depiction of natural settings. The book’s enduring appeal is reflected in its exploration of childhood adventure and familial ties, leading to a sequel, "Return to Gone-Away."
Subject Terms
Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright
First published: 1957; illustrated
Subjects: Family and friendship
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Domestic realism
Time of work: The 1950’s
Recommended Ages: 10-13
Locale: A hidden lake in Upstate New York
Principal Characters:
Portia Blake , a girl “beginning to be eleven”Foster Blake , her six-and-a-half-year-old younger brotherJulian Jarman , their cousinUncle Jake , andAunt Hilda , Julian’s parentsMinnehaha Cheever (Mrs. Lionel Alexis Cheever) , an elderly widowPindar Payton , her brother
Form and Content
Gone-Away Lake recounts the happenings of a single summer. In Elizabeth Enright’s usual episodic fashion, each chapter centers on a single event, usually one taking less than a day. The action begins with Portia and Foster Blake on their annual train journey to visit their aunt and uncle in the country; for the first time, they travel alone. Other things, too, mark the upcoming summer as different: Uncle Jake and Aunt Hilda have bought a new house, and their Boxer dog, Katy, has just had puppies. Exploring the woods behind the new house, Portia and her cousin Julian discover a stone with the inscription “LAPIS PHILOSOPHORUM / TARQUIN ET PINDAR / 15 JULY 1891,” cross a swamp leading to a colony of derelict summer houses, and then, surprisingly, encounter two elderly people living there.
After meeting Mrs. Cheever and her brother, Pindar Payton, the children learn of the summer colony’s deterioration after its central lake vanished. The old people, having returned to Gone-Away for financial reasons, are completely self-sufficient: They clothe themselves out of steamer trunks of old garments; supply themselves with food from their gardens, milk from their goats, and honey from their bees; and repel the swamp’s many insects with A. P. Decoction, an antipest remedy developed after many trials. “I wonder how many human beings have voluntarily rubbed their skins with a solution of boiled skunk cabbage and wild garlic,” recalls Mr. Payton, observing that that particular version attracted the mosquitoes “in conventions” instead of repelling them.
In successive visits, Julian and Portia hear the story of the Philosopher’s Stone and other reminiscences of the old people’s friendships at the lake. They grow fond of their new friends, now known to them as Aunt Minnehaha and Uncle Pin, who give them an old house to refurbish as a clubhouse. Their determination to keep Gone-Away a secret, however, results in a near-tragedy when Foster, following their tracks, sinks into the “Gulper,” a treacherous area in the swamp. His rescue by Uncle Pin and return home in an ancient Franklin (“an equipage that looked more like a giant insect than a car”) bring about the main turn in the book’s action as the Gone-Away elders meet the Jarmans.
The story accelerates as a club is formed with a group of young people, the Gulper is safely bridged, Foster and his friend Davey take over a clubhouse of their own, and Aunt Minnehaha and Uncle Pin begin to enjoy more company than they have seen, or wanted, for years. Treasures shared among the generations include turn-of-the-century dresses for the girls and one of Katy’s puppies for Uncle Pin. When September comes, one exploration remains: the isolated Villa Caprice, once the home of the pretentious Mrs. Brace-Gideon. Portia and Foster’s parents, present for this event, fall in love with the decrepit house and, as the book gently concludes, are evidently planning to buy and reclaim Villa Caprice.
Each chapter has at least one lively picture; those showing the old houses and their crowded interiors are particularly appealing. Although Enright herself began as an artist and drew the illustrations for her previous books, the line drawings for Gone-Away Lake and its sequel, Return to Gone-Away (1961), are by Beth and Joe Krush.
Critical Context
Although well received by reviewers at its publication, Gone-Away Lake has never attracted as much critical attention as Elizabeth Enright’s first major book for children, Thimble Summer (1938), which won the Newbery Medal and which also focuses on a single summer in the country. That novel combines the family themes with two external forces: drought and the Great Depression. In her later family stories, Enright concentrated more on family and less on outside problems, with the result that many young readers prefer her Melendy family books to Thimble Summer. Like Portia and Foster, the Melendy children begin as an urban family, in The Saturdays (1941), then move to the country for Four-Story Mistake (1942) and Then There Were Five (1945). Enright’s final Melendy book, Spiderweb for Two (1951), shows the older Melendy children launching into adolescence and inventing a mystery for the younger two—a departure from her usual plotting that she never repeated.
Gone-Away Lake received a New York Herald Tribune Festival Award; the book’s success with readers encouraged Enright to write a sequel, Return to Gone-Away, about the events following the Blake family’s move to Villa Caprice. Some critics have suggested that Enright’s predominantly white, middle-class characters do not represent a cross-section of American society. Others laud the books’ sensitive language, family relationships, and descriptions of nature. Gone-Away Lake, like the Melendy books and Thimble Summer, was reissued in paperback in the 1980’s. The intergenerational theme of the Gone-Away books continues to have appeal, as this theme became a significant one in juvenile books of the later twentieth century.